


day 15: music

by awesomems



Series: Summer Pride Challenge 2019 [14]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bucky Barnes Recovering, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Piano, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Post-Serum Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2020-06-26 02:37:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19758865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awesomems/pseuds/awesomems
Summary: bucky starts playing piano again during recovery.





	day 15: music

**Author's Note:**

> it's been a while, but i assure you i haven't given up on this. i will finish it, it'll just take some time. in the meantime, have this.

bucky looked down at his mismatched hands hovering above the keys. they’d been shaking, so he took a couple deep breaths in an effort to calm himself down enough to start playing. it’d been years, decades since he’d even thought about playing the piano. he only recently remembered it was something he used to do, so he decided to give it another shot.

he started to play the first notes of “i’m in the mood for love,” it being one of the first songs he ever learned how to play, and therefore had been imprinted on his mind like ink onto paper, rushing to the front of his brain as soon as he tried remembering a song, any song. his metal hand wasn’t nearly as delicate on the keys as his flesh one, but he reassured himself that it would take practice, like any other thing.

he heard the elevator behind him ding, but he carried on until the end of the song before turning around to see who it was. 

“you’re playing again.” steve acknowledged. it was barely more than a whisper, but bucky heard him. 

“m’trying.” he doesn’t look up, as if he’s embarrassed, and steve doesn’t make him. 

steve pulls up a chair, fully aware that bucky may need the entire bench to play. “you sounded good, from what i heard. are you taking requests?”

“got something in mind?” bucky said. “anything i used to play…before, and i’ll tell you if i remember.”

“how about ‘smoke gets in your eyes?’” steve remembers the song, but he remembers the things that were happening whenever he played it more vividly, even after all these years, and that was the main reason he suggested it. whenever he played it, steve and bucky would exchange furtive smiles from across the bar (unless they chose to make the trip to one of the queer bars in manhattan, in which case they were more open about their relationship).

“yeah…yeah, i can do that,” bucky replied. he paused, thinking of the notes and the finger placement, getting into the rhythm of the song before beginning. 

he didn’t look up until he was finished, but when he did, he was met with steve looking at him the same way he would over seventy years ago. “what?”

“nothing, it’s just…it’s nice seeing you get back into things you enjoy,” steve admitted. “i always loved hearing you play.”

“i always made sure you were listening.” 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> the songs bucky plays: [i'm in the mood for love](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATMK_ARiQMI) and [smoke gets in your eyes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgHudbbgzWI) (the second video is technically the version of the song recorded by the platters in 1958, and the version bucky plays is the 1933 version, but there's not much difference)
> 
> kudos and comments are appreciated!


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